By Jack Stubbs
Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood—just north of Boeing Field and south of the Industrial District—is often regarded as a hub of industrial activity, and an industrial/warehouse building totaling just over 75,000 square feet changed hands yesterday. On Tuesday, October 16th, the Westcore River Building sold for $14.5 million, or approximately $193 per square foot, King County records show. The buyer was Seattle-based commercial real estate investment firm Talon Private Capital and the seller was Westcore Properties, a fully-integrated commercial real estate investment company based in San Diego.
Talon did not respond to calls for comment about the sale of the property—which the seller acquired for just over $5.8 million in May 2016, according to public documents—in time for the publishing of this story.
The asset, located at 303 S. River St. in the South Seattle/Georgetown industrial market, is a Class B industrial building constructed in 1969 that totals 75,048 square feet, according to the property listing on Westcore Properties’ web site. The asset provides a distribution point that is located near the major commercial and office areas of the core Seattle market as well as Boeing Field and SeaTac Airport.
Sitting adjacent to the Duwamish River, the manufacturing building offers over 24 feet of clear-height (which exceeds the average clear height for industrial properties in the South Seattle submarket), a rear yard that provides the ability of trailer parking and storage and moorage and rail doors, according to the web site. There is also approximately 1,052 square feet of office space available at the property, with new office improvements underway.
According to Google Maps, no tenants currently occupy the property. Neil Walter Company, who is listed as the leasing broker for the asset, did not respond to emails for comment about the recent transaction.
The property is roughly five miles south of downtown Seattle and nine miles north of SeaTac Airport, and also allows for easy access to Interstate-5 and Washington State Route 509.
There have been a number of industrial property sales in Georgetown in recent months, indicating that demand in the submarket continues. On September 6th, Enlightening Property LLC acquired an industrial/warehouse building—located at 780 S. Michigan St.—for $9.55 million, or approximately $238 per square foot, from Eastlake Management, an entity affiliated with John Bredvik based in Seattle.
In early August, Seattle-based pet insurance company Trupanion acquired the Benaroya 6100 Building located at 6100 Fourth Ave. S. from Benaroya Company for $65 million, or roughly $283 per square foot. On August 14th, Dallas-based Lincoln Property purchased the five-building South Seattle Business Park located at 4634 East Marginal Way for $17.5 million, or approximately $179 per square foot, from Redmond-based SMARTCAP Inc.
The South Seattle Business Park is just one mile north of where a Class A industrial project—set to become the nation’s first multistory industrial building—is planned for South Seattle. The Prologis-developed Georgetown Crossroads is a three-story, 589,615 square foot fulfillment center located at 6050 East Marginal Way South that is scheduled for completion in October 2018.
Talon Private Capital’s current investment activities are focused in Seattle, Portland, Dallas and Austin, according to the company’s web site. The company recently added its M Management Partners division, which looks to provide property management, engineering, accounting and construction management services to its clients. Talon owns a number of commercial properties throughout the Puget Sound region in Bellevue, Seattle, Issaquah and Kirkland.
Talon is often known for its investment in commercial office properties in Seattle and surrounding areas in the region, but has in recent weeks—along with the recent purchase of the Westcore River Building—begun focusing on industrial development opportunities as well. On September 20th, the company acquired the approximately 4-acre Marine Terminal property along the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood for $18.6 million from Commercial Marine Construction Company.
Founded in 1978, Westcore Properties focuses on core Western U.S. markets. Nationally, the company’s current portfolio of industrial/office properties includes 67 assets comprising 148 buildings and 10.1 million square feet.
